<html><body><div style="color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:garamond, new york, times, serif;font-size:14pt"><div><span>At first glance, I wouldn't accord that much important to this as a fundamental aspect of what is going on. But on second glance, neither would I underestimate its importance. I fear it's more of a factor than I might have thought.</span></div><div><span></span> </div><div><span>DG</span></div> <div class="qtdSeparateBR"><br><br></div><div class="yahoo_quoted" style="display: block;"> <div style="font-family: garamond, new york, times, serif; font-size: 14pt;"> <div style="font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <div dir="ltr"> <font face="Arial" size="2"> On Friday, August 1, 2014 11:41 AM, Stuart Levy via Peace-discuss <peace-discuss@lists.chambana.net> wrote:<br> </font> </div> <blockquote style="padding-left: 5px; margin-top: 5px; margin-left:
5px; border-left-color: rgb(16, 16, 255); border-left-width: 2px; border-left-style: solid;"> <br><br> <div class="y_msg_container"><div id="yiv7129545020">
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Via United for Peace and Justice.<br>
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<br>
<div class="yiv7129545020moz-forward-container">-------- Original Message
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="" valign="BASELINE">Subject:
</th>
<td>[ufpj-activist] Resource ECOLOGIST:armed robbery in gaza
Greta's book has background</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="" valign="BASELINE">Date: </th>
<td>Tue, 29 Jul 2014 18:24:14 -0500</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="" valign="BASELINE">From: </th>
<td>Lisa Fithian <a class="yiv7129545020moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:fithianl@igc.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:fithianl@igc.org">mailto:fithianl@igc.org</a></td>
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<th align="RIGHT" nowrap="" valign="BASELINE">To: </th>
<td><a class="yiv7129545020moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org">mailto:ufpj-activist@lists.mayfirst.org</a></td>
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<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">From:</span></b><span style="font-size: 10pt;">
<a class="yiv7129545020moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com">wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com</a>
[<a class="yiv7129545020moz-txt-link-freetext" href="mailto:wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow" ymailto="mailto:wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com">mailto:wesailforjustice@googlegroups.com</a>] <b>On Behalf
Of </b>kathy sheetz<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, July 28, 2014 1:18 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> palestine solidarity network; we sail for
justice<br>
<b>Subject:</b> [wesailforjustice] ECOLOGIST:armed
robbery in gaza Greta's book has background</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"> </div>
<div>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 17.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.5pt;"><a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html</span></a></span></h1>
<h1 style="background: white; line-height: 17.25pt; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 3.75pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 16.5pt;">Armed
robbery in Gaza - Israel, US, UK carve up the spoils of
Palestine's stolen gas</span></h1>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; color: rgb(115, 115, 115); font-size: 9pt;">Nafeez
Ahmed</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="line-height: 9pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; color: rgb(115, 115, 115); font-size: 7.5pt;">24th
July 2014</span></div>
<h2 style="background: white; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 6pt; margin-left: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Israel
desperately covets Gaza's gas as a 'cheap stop-gap'
yielding revenues of $6-7 billion a year, writes Nafeez
Ahmed. The UK's BG and the US's Noble Energy are lined up
to do the dirty work - but first Hamas must be 'uprooted'
from Gaza, and Fatah bullied into cutting off its talks
with Russia's Gazprom.</span></h2>
<div style="padding: 5pt; border: 1pt solid rgb(205, 205, 205); margin-right: 6pt; margin-bottom: 6pt; float: left;">
<blockquote style="margin: 5pt 0in;">
<div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; color: rgb(156, 156, 156); font-size: 10pt;">It
is clear that without an overall military
operation to uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no
drilling work can take place without the consent
of the radical Islamic movement.</span></b></div>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel's
current offensive in the Gaza Strip is by no means an
energy war"</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
writes <a href="http://nationalinterest.org/feature/war-over-energy-gaza-10923" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Allison Good
in The National Interest</span></a>in a response to my<a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2482929/gaza_israels_4_billion_gas_grab.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Ecologist
/ Guardian</span></i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">article</span></a> exposing
the role of natural gas in Israel's invasion of Gaza.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">This <i><span>"has not
stopped conspiracy theorists from alleging that the
IDF's Operation Protective Edge aims to assert control
over Palestinians gas and avert an Israeli energy
crisis."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Describing
me as a <i><span>"self-proclaimed"</span></i>international
security journalist engaging in<i><span>"shoddy
logic, evidence and language",</span></i> Good - who
works as a contractor for Noble Energy, the Texas-based
oil major producing gas from Israel's reserves in the
Mediterranean Sea - claims that:</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel
is nowhere close to experiencing an energy crisis and
has no urgent or near-future need for the natural gas
located offshore Gaza. While Israel gains nothing for
its energy industry by hitting Gaza, it stands to lose
significantly more."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">If
you don't like the evidence - ignore it</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yet
Good's missive is full of oversimplifications and
distortions. She points out that Israel's recently
discovered Tamar and Leviathan fields together hold an
estimated 30 trillion cubic feet of gas - which, she
claims <i><span>"are
expected to meet Israel's domestic energy needs for at
least the next twenty-five years"</span></i> while
simultaneously sustaining major exports.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel
is not using Operation Protective Edge to steal the Gaza
Marine gas field from the Palestinians, and it is
irresponsible to claim otherwise"</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
she asserts. Yet her blanket dismissal simply ignores the
evidence.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">In
early 2011, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proposed new
negotiations with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud
Abbas Abu-Mazen over development of the Gaza Marine
reservoir.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"The
proposal was made in view of Israel's natural gas
shortage following the cessation of gas deliveries from
Egypt"</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
reported the Israeli business daily <a href="http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000829662" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Globes</span></a>.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">US-based
Noble's Gaza gas grab</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">But
since 2012, Israel began <a href="http://mondediplo.com/blogs/israel-s-war-for-gaza-s-gas" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">unilaterally
developing</span></a> the Noa South gas reserve in the
Mediterranean off the coast of Gaza, estimated to contain
about 1.2 billion cubic metres.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">According
to <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html#38;fid=1725" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Globes</span></a>,
Israel had previously <i><span>"refrained
from ordering development of the Noa field, fearing
that this would lead to diplomatic problems vis-à-vis
the Palestinian Authority"</span></i> as the field
is <i><span>"partly
under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority in
the economic zone of the Gaza Strip."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Allison
Good's employer, Noble Energy, <i><span>"convinced"</span></i> Israel's
Ministry of National Infrastructures that the company's
drilling would <i><span>"not
spill over into other parts of the reserve."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel
wanted to cooperate with the Palestinian Authority to
develop Israel's Noa South reservoir, which spreads into
Gaza's maritime area"</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">,
reported <a href="http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000829662" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Globes</span></a>. <i><span>"In the
end, Israel decided to develop the Noa reservoir
without any official agreement."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel's
secret gas talks</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Despite
repeated breakdowns in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to
exploit the Gaza Marine gas reserves, Israel's interest
only accelerated.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">In
May last year, Israeli officials were in <i><span>"<a href="http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-1000829662" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">secret
talks</span></a>"</span></i> for months with the
British Gas Group (BG Group), which owns the license over
Gaza's offshore resources, over development of the
reserves.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">According
to the <a href="http://www.eia.gov/countries/country-data.cfm?fips=pt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">US Energy
Information Administration</span></a> (EIA), the Gaza
Marine holds about 1.6 trillion cubic feet in recoverable
gas, and <i><span>"offshore
Gaza territory may hold additional energy resources."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Determining
the size of these additional resources requires further
exploration which, however, is limited by <i><span>"uncertainty
around maritime delineation between Israel, Gaza, and
Egypt."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Senior
Israeli sources said that the Gaza gas issue was expected
to come up in US President Barack Obama's talks with
Israeli leaders during his visit to Israel at the time.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
Palestinians - who own the gas - were excluded</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
talks also included Netanyahu's personal envoy Yitzak
Molcho and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair in his
capacity as Quartet (US, UK, EU, Russia) special envoy to
the Middle East.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Palestinian
leaders, though, were excluded from these talks due to <i><span>"political
sensitivities and the complex relationship between the
Palestinian Authority and Hamas."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">By
October that year, the <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2489992/armed_robbery_in_gaza_israel_us_uk_carve_up_the_spoils_of_palestines_stolen_gas.html#axzz38BhYGgGb" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Financial
Times</span></a> reported that Netanyahu remained <i><span>"very
supportive"</span></i> of the Gaza Marine gas
project <i><span>"which
would see the fields exploited on behalf of the
Palestinian Authority by investors led by BG Group."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">If
all went ahead, the fields could be producing gas by 2017,
generating <i><span>"$6bn
to $7bn of revenues a year." </span></i>An <i><span>"energy
industry source"</span></i> cited by FT told the
newspaper that:</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel
may now see Gaza Marine as providing a useful
alternative source of gas, especially at a time when its
pipeline imports from Egypt have been disrupted due to
unrest in the Sinai peninsula.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Mr
Netanyahu's government faces criticism and a court
challenge from opposition politicians over its plans to
export up to 40 per cent of natural gas produced from
its own, much larger Mediterranean gas reserves.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel,
the industry source said, may feel that gas from Gaza
would allow it to reduce its reliance on the consortium
led by Noble and Delek Energy now developing Israel's
Tamar and Leviathan offshore gasfields."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Quashing
the gas deal</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">But
as Good herself noted in the same month in Dubai's <a href="http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/gazas-energy-riches-stay-untapped-amid-political-stalemate" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">The National</span></a>,
there remained one problem:</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Hamas
retains de facto jurisdiction over the Gaza Strip and,
consequently, over Gaza Marine. The PA cannot negotiate
on behalf of Hamas, and any agreement that Israel could
make with Ramallah would certainly be declared null and
void in Gaza. Israel also still refuses to negotiate
with Hamas."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">And
despite negotiations to exploit Gaza's gas speeding ahead
between Israeli government and BG Group officials,
Netanyahu <i><span>"quashed"</span></i> a
$4 billion economic stimulus initiative proposed by US
Secretary of State John Kerry which <i><span>"included
a proposal for the exploitation of Gaza Marine."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Why
was Netanyahu simultaneously pushing forward negotiations
over Gaza's gas, while also blocking and excluding any
deal that would grant any Palestinian entity inclusion in
the deal?</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel's
gas reserves inflated, consumption understated</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"><br>
<br>
As noted in my <a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2482929/gaza_israels_4_billion_gas_grab.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">article</span></a>,
and ignored by Noble Energy contractor Allison Good, the
drive to access Gaza's gas was likely magnified in the
context of a report by Israeli government chief scientists
Sinai Netanyahu and Shlomo Wald of the Energy and Water
Resources Ministry.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">That
report was submitted to the Tzemach committee tasked with
drafting a national gas policy, but was covered up until <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/business/israel-s-gas-reserves-insufficient-for-exports-1.451838" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Ha'aretz</span></i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);"> obtained a leaked copy</span></a>.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
Tzemach committee recommended the government to export 53%
of its gas - reduced to 40% this June - amidst widespread
allegations of <i><span>"improper
conduct"</span></i> and<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/business/.premium-1.528070" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">deliberate
inflation of reserve figures</span></a>.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Indeed,
according to the report of the Israeli chief scientists,
the government's gas policy is based on underestimating
future Israeli demand and overestimating the country's gas
production potential.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">In
reality, the scientists said, Israel will need <i><span>"<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/business/israel-s-gas-reserves-insufficient-for-exports-1.451838" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">50% more
natural gas</span></a> than has been forecast
until now and its offshore reserves will be empty in
less than 40 years."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel's
looming gas crunch</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
most optimistic estimate received by the Tzemach committee
was that Israel would need 364 billion cubic meters of
gas. In contrast, the chief scientists argued that by
2040, Israel would need 650 billion cubic meters, after
which the country would consume 40 billion cubic meters of
gas per year.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">At
this rate, <i><span>"even
if Israel chooses not to export any gas, it will
entirely exhaust its offshore reserves"</span></i> by
2055. This assessment, further, ignores that <i><span>"not
all the gas is likely to be commercially extractable."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
upshot is that Israel cannot simultaneously export gas and
retain sufficient quantities to meet its domestic needs.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">And
if Israel exhausts its gas resources <i><span>"it
will be forced to return to oil to meet its energy
needs, even though global oil production is expected
to start declining by 2035."</span></i>The scientists
noted that <i><span>"if
oil output drops by even 15%, its price is likely to
spike by 550%."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">These
concerns are compounded by the consistent
under-performance of several of Israel's recent gas
discoveries compared to the hype, such as in the Sara,
Myra, Ishai, and Elijah-3 reserves.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">As
Israel faces a 2015 gas shortage, Gaza's gas is a cheap
stop-gap</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Sohbet
Karbuz, head of hydrocarbons at Observatoire Méditerranéen
de l'Energie (OME) in Paris, points out that much of the
gas was <a href="http://www.ensec.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=445:the-under-belly-of-eastern-mediterranean-gas&catid=137:issue-content&Itemid=422" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">not in
hindsight commercially recoverable</span></a>. As he
writes in the <i><span>Journal
of Energy Security,</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"There
is no certainty that it will be commercially possible to
produce any percentage of contingent resources."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel's
gas export policy, he thus remarks with reference to the
much-vaunted Tamar and Leviathan fields, is based <i><span>"partly
on a mixture of hype and hope on the one hand, and
reserves and prospective resources on the other."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Drilling
in Israel's Leviathan reserves which was supposed to begin
in December 2013 has been postponed to later this year due
to high gas pressures at lower depths. In the meantime,<i><span> </span></i>reports <a href="http://jewishbusinessnews.com/2013/11/18/leviathan-oil-well-drilling-postponed/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Jewish
Business News</span></i></a>,</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Postponing
Leviathan's development could have major repercussions
on Israel's economy, which will face a natural gas
shortage from 2015."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel
needs the Gaza Marine as a stop-gap, but wants it cheap,
and is unwilling to exploit the reserves through any
Palestinian entity.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">UK
Foreign Office - 'Israel won't pay the full whack'</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Official
British Foreign Office (FCO) documents obtained under the
Freedom of Information Act by the Palestinian think-tank
Al-Shabaka based in Washington DC shine new light on this.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">According
to email correspondence between the FCO's Near East Group
and the British Consulate General in Jerusalem in November
2009, Israel had refused to pay market price for Gaza's
gas. One Foreign Office official said:</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"Israel
won't (i) pay the full whack [for the gas] (ii)
guarantee to give a certain cut direct to the PA. So BG
aren't getting the gas out of the sea-bed. They are
content to exploit other reserves and come back to this
one when the price is right."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Another
email dated 29<sup>th</sup> June 2010 noted that despite
large reserves of gas discovered between Israel and Cyprus
giving Israel the opportunity to become a net gas
exporter, Israeli officials saw potential for the Gaza
Marine to function as <i><span>"a
stop-gap measure before the new finds come fully on
stream."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">On
8th February 2011, UK ambassador to Israel Matthew Gould
wrote to the FCO explaining that Israel intended to
therefore seek the development of Gaza's gas reserves as
this would</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"enhance
Palestinian opportunities; reduce Gaza's dependence on
Israel; and diversify Israel's sources of gas.
[redacted] added that this last point had been given
added topicality by the attack this weekend on the gas
pipeline from Egypt."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">British
Gas and Israel collude to exclude Hamas</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
biggest obstacle as far as Israel is concerned is Hamas,
the Palestinian Authority (PA), and the prospect of a
strong independent Palestinian state.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">An
April 2014 policy paper for the European Parliament's
directorate-general of external policies points out that <i><span>"distrust"</span></i> between
all these parties, particularly <i><span>"political
divisions on the Palestine side"</span></i> have <i><span>"hindered
the negotiations."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">After
Hamas was elected to power in the Gaza Strip in 2006, the
group declared from the outset that Israel's agreements
with the PA were illegitimate, and that Hamas was the
rightful owner of the Gaza Marine resources.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">But
BG Group and Israeli officials had come up with a strategy
to bypass Hamas. A BG official told the <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Features/Still-waters" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><i><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Jerusalem
Post</span></i></a> in August 2007 that</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"BG
and Israel have arrived at an 'understanding' that will
transfer funds intended for the PA's Palestinian
Investment Fund into an international bank account,
where they will be held until the PA can retake control
of the Gaza Strip."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Under
this plan, <i><span>"Both
Israel and BG intend that until the PA is able to
remove Hamas from power in the Gaza Strip, the money
will be held in an international bank account. Neither
side wants the money to go to fund terror-related
activities."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Hamas
must be uprooted from Gaza</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
plan was, according to an Infrastructures Ministry
official cited by the <i><span>Jerusalem
Post</span></i>, about <i><span>"circumventing
the possibility that Israeli money will end up in the
wrong hands"</span></i>by arranging <i><span>"a
payment plan"</span></i> that would <i><span>"completely
exclude Hamas".</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">In
the same year, incumbent Israeli defence minister Moshe
Ya'alon - then former IDF chief of staff - <a href="http://jcpa.org/article/does-the-prospective-purchase-of-british-gas-from-gaza-threaten-israel%E2%80%99s-national-security/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">explicitly
advocated</span></a> that the only way in which Gaza's
gas could be developed was through an Israeli military
incursion to eliminate Hamas.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ya'alon's
concern was that <i><span>"Palestinian
gas profits would likely end up funding terrorism
against Israel"</span></i>, a threat which <i><span>"is not
limited to Hamas"</span></i> and includes the
Fatah-run PA. As preventing gas proceeds from <i><span>"reaching
Palestinian terror groups"</span></i> is <i><span>"impossible"</span></i>,
Ya'alon concluded:</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">"It
is clear that without an overall military operation to
uproot Hamas control of Gaza, no drilling work can take
place without the consent of the radical Islamic
movement."</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ya'alon's
concerns voiced in 2007 - and the prospect of using
military force to begin gas production in Gaza - remain
relevant today. As the man in charge of Israel's current
war on Gaza, Ya'alon is now in a position to execute the
vision he had outlined a year before Operation Cast Lead.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Extending
Israeli sovereignty over Gaza</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Thus,
the exclusion of Palestinian representatives - whether
Fatah or Hamas - from the latest negotiations between
Israel and BG Gas is no accident.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">While
PA president Mahmoud Abbas was independently seeking to
reach a deal with Russia's Gazprom to develop the Gaza
Marine, <a href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-finally-speaks-his-mind/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Netanyahu</span></a> had
already <i><span>"made
explicitly clear that he could never, ever,
countenance a fully sovereign Palestinian state"</span></i> -
which is why he <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/views/news/middle-east/2014/07/21/Netanyahu-s-goal-is-to-end-Palestinian-sovereignty.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">deliberately
torpedoed</span></a> the peace process, according to
US officials.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
other factor in this equation is the legal challenge to
the Gaza gas proposals from<a href="http://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/OEF-93.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Yam Thetis</span></a>,
a consortium of three Israeli firms and Samedan Oil.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Samedan
is a subsidiary of the same US oil company, Noble Energy,
that employs National Interest contributor Allison Good,
and which has been operating in the Noa South field that
overlaps Gaza.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Yam
Thetis' principal argument was that <i><span>"BG
had no right to drill in Palestinian waters as the
Palestinian Authority is not a state and cannot grant
such a right to drill in offshore Gaza."</span></i></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
upshot is that Noble Energy's consortium should have the
right to extend its drilling into the Gaza Marine on
behalf of Israel - and at the expense of the Palestinians.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Removing
the obstacles - Hamas and the PA</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Since
the Oslo Accords, although the PA's maritime jurisdiction
extends up to 20 nautical miles from the coast, Israel has
incrementally <a href="http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/briefing_note/join/2014/522339/EXPO-AFET_SP%282014%29522339_EN.pdf" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">reduced
Gaza's maritime jurisdiction by 85%</span></a>from 20
to 3 nautical miles - effectively reversing Palestinian
sovereignty over the Gaza Marine.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">But
with Israel's determination to access Gaza's gas
accelerating in the context of the risk of a 2015 energy
crunch, the fundamental obstacle to doing so remained not
just the intransigent Hamas, but an insufficiently pliant
PA seeking to engage the west's arch-geopolitical rival,
Russia.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Israel's
own commitment to blocking a two-state solution and
bypassing Hamas meant that its only option to bring Gaza's
gas into production was to do so directly - with, it
seems, the competing collusion of American and British
energy companies.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">The
IDF's Gaza operation, launched <a href="http://ceasefiremagazine.co.uk/israels-attack-gaza-culmination-66-years-settler-colonialism/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">fraudulently</span></a> in
the name of self-defence, is certainly though not
exclusively about permanently altering the facts on the
ground in Gaza to head-off the PA's ambitions for
autonomously developing the Marine gas reserves, and to
eliminate Hamas' declared sovereignty over them.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div align="center" class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span class="yiv7129545020bodycontents"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">
<div class="hr" style="margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); height: 0px; line-height: 0; font-size: 0px;" contenteditable="false" readonly="true"></div></span></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Also
by Nafeez Ahmed:</span></b><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"> '<a href="http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_analysis/2482929/gaza_israels_4_billion_gas_grab.html" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Gaza:
Israel's $4 billion gas grab</span></a>'.</span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><b><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">Dr.
Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed</span></i></b><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"> is
Executive Director of the <a href="http://www.iprd.org.uk/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Institute for Policy Research
& Development</span></a> in London. He has
advised the British Foreign Office, Royal Military
Academy Sandhurst, and US State Department, and his work
was officially used by the 9/11 Commission. He writes
for The Ecologist and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/profile/nafeez-ahmed" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">The
Guardian</span></a> on the geopolitics of
interconnected environmental, energy and economic
crises.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal"><i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;">His
latest nonfiction book is <a href="http://mondediplo.com/%7Bhttp:/www.crisisofcivilization.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">A User's
Guide to the Crisis of Civilization: And How to Save
it</span></a> (2010), and his forthcoming novel, <a href="http://zro.pt/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><span style="color: rgb(56, 73, 54);">Zero Point</span></a>,
is out this August.</span></i><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"></span></div>
<div class="yiv7129545020MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 7.5pt;"><span style="background: white; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span></div>
</div>
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